Technology Tuesday: The Clever School Teacher

If you have perused the world of educational blogs at all I’m sure you have seen the blog Mrs. Wills Kindergarten!  It is a favorite of mine and always has been! Well, did you know that her and her husband  have created a new site? I didn’t either until I saw this post from Chalk Talk! 
This new site is such an incredible resource for teachers and I have perused it some so I thought I would share what I found and LOVE!

It’s a little hard to read but the site gives you two different options: you can browse by category or you can search by book title, author or SKU.  My favorite is the category option! They are arranged in different ways, by comprehension, by genre studies, by word study, 6+1 Traits, Units of Study-Lucy Calkins, Katie Wood Ray, Craft Lessons, Non-Fiction Craft Lessons, Award Winning Books, and Common Core Standards by grade level.  There are “sets” created that you can purchase in most of the different categories.  It’s incredible!
There is also a wish list feature, they take POs from schools and you get free shipping (in the US) on orders over $25!
I mean, think about it…how many hours have you/could you spend trying to find the perfect book to teach a certain concept or idea.  And here they all are organized in many different ways!  What a wonderful resource for educators! 

You should head on over and check it out.  I am still perusing the different categories!
I’d love to hear what you find! Feel free to comment below!

Alphabet Songs!

Have Fun Teaching is such an incredible resource for teachers!  When I first began blogging, I won a giveaway from Randi @ Teach it With Class and won one of their CDs.  LOVE it!

Their Alphabet Songs would be absolutely PERFECT for the beginning of the year kinder kiddos!  Here’s a little sample:

These are such a great way to reinforce letters and letter sounds in a fun way!  It is so easy to get stuck reviewing and teaching them the same way all the time, but I would encourage you to try these out.  I can guarantee your kiddos will LOVE them!

How do you reinforce the letters and letter sounds? Would love to hear some great ideas!

P.S.  If you are a follower of mine on Teachers Pay Teachers, check your Teachers Pay Teachers inbox for a deal!

Technology Tuesday: Build Your Wild Self and Switcharoo Zoo

Have you been teaching about animals?  Need a fun end of the year activity?
Well, New York Zoos and Aquarium and Switchzoo.com have some neat technology tools that would be a lot of fun in the classroom!

The first one is from New York Zoos and Aquarium and is called Build Your Wild Self. {Click the title to go to the site.}  Once there, click “start” on the right hand side.  You’ll come to a screen that looks like this:

From there you can create your own “wild self!”  You can choose all sorts of different appendages! Ha!  There are butterfly wings, seahorse tail, and many many more!  Here is one I created:

Then if you click the red “I’m Done” button underneath your creation it will take you to a page that looks like this:

It gives you info about the different animals whose parts you used on the right.  Then you can send it to a friend or print it!  So…print it out and then they can write about it!!!!  I created a little writing page for this! You can print the “wild self” and glue it on the picture area.  Or, just keep the printout of the “wild self” in one piece and attach the full page writing paper! Click the pictures below to download the files!

Another site you should check out is Switcheroo Zoo.  Click the picture below to check it out!

Enjoy!

Technology Tuesday: Storyline Online!

So there are LOTS of websites out there that have books being read.  Some require memberships, but I found one that is completely free!  And, they are read by some pretty neat actors.  It’s called Storyline Online. 

There are currently 24 different titles offered.  Some include, A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon, Stellaluna by Janell Cannon, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg and many many more!!! 
But, my very favorite one they have is….The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister!

Sometimes kiddos just love to be able to see a book in motion!  I hope this is a useful tool you can utilize in your classroom!

Technology Tuesday! and Dollar Tree finds!

If you’ve been here long you know I LOVE LOVE using technology in the classroom!  I especially love it when technology can drive a concept home in a different way.  I’m a firm believer in presenting the same information in many, many ways.  In our classrooms (whether you have 15 or 30 students) we are blessed with a variety of kiddos.  Not a single one the same.  This is obvious in personality, prior knowledge, etc.  But, it is also true about their learning styles.  Some kiddos learn by using hands on activities (i.e. manipulatives), some learn from visual aids (i.e. posters, etc.), some learn by listening, some learn by writing…the list could go on and on.  I have found that especially in the younger grades, hands on activities and visual aids are HUGE.  Not that the others don’t exist, because they do.  But, often in the younger grades you are that child’s first experience with that concept or topic…they don’t have prior knowledge.  Providing them with memorable activities and visuals will imprint that concept/topic and allow them to be successful later.  To me, technology many times combines hands on with visual in a beautiful way.  This is especially true if you have a SMARTboard or a Promethean in your classroom!  So, today I want to share with you an incredible math resource that can be used in all grades and all math concepts.
McGraw Hill Education has an online interactive “Math Toolbox” (as I like to call it).  You can select your grade level (PreK-8) and then there are various game boards, story boards and workmats.  There are also various manipulatives to use!

There is also a text tool so you, as the teacher, can provide a problem for the students to work out.  Here is a simple addition one I made.  Then students can use the bears on the left to show their thinking.

Students can even use a pen tool to write the equation.  There is SO much available here as a resource.  There are also different backgrounds with ten frames, etc.  I LOVE this resource and it is hugely beneficial if you have any kind of interactive whiteboard as well!  This is one of my many go to resources!  I would love to hear how you find it useful in your classroom!  Please don’t take my word for it!  Go check it out HERE.
Now for something totally unrelated to technology, but I think you all will appreciate it!  I went to the Dollar Tree today and I walked in and saw this:
         
I’m sure most of you share my love of plastic containers!  So I thought I would share the abundance.  Hit up your local Dollar Tree and see what you find!
I also found these adorable color books! 












They are made of thin cardboard so I think they would hold up pretty well in a classroom library. They are perfect for beginning of the year kinders!
Just thought I would share these great finds with you!  Hope you enjoy!
Also…I have reached 200 followers!  I have a great giveaway that I’m announcing tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Numbers Galore 20 to 50-FREEBIE

So back at the beginning of my blogging journey I posted a freebie.  You might recognize it below:
      

Get it here:

Y’all.  The post has been viewed 7945 times!! And the TpT listing has been downloaded 15,683 times!!!!!! INSANE.--IT HAS NOW BEEN UPDATED FOR NUMBERS 0-100!!

Okay…now for TECHNOLOGY TUESDAY!!

I don’t know about you, but my kiddos loved Sid the Science kid!

Well I was perusing the PBS kids website and there are lots of videos from Sid the Science Kid about Earth Day related topics! Click on the picture below to go to the video player:

Now you have to scroll through the list to find the related videos, but here’s a little help!  These are the ones I found related to Earth Day.

Full Episode-“Clean air!”
Clip-“Earth Day Tips from Sid!”
Clip-“Backseat Driving with Grandma: Recycling”
Clip-“Ways to Make Less Trash”
Clip-“Recycling!”
Clip-“Sid and His Mom Talk About Air Pollution”
Clip-“Ways We Can Not Waste Water”
Enjoy!! 

Technology Tuesday-Pin it!, Number Rack and Scholastic Sale!

Okay.  This is going to be a long one!  I’ve got a few different things to share.

First off…I figured out how to put a “pin it” button on each blog post!  I googled it and found this site: http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2012/03/pinterest-pin-it-button-blogger.html

There are step by step instructions on how to add it.  The only change I had to make was adding a “break” after the code so that the button didn’t overlap with my post text.  To do this you just have to add <br/>.  Let me know if it works for you or if you have questions!

Next is a technology activity that can be used in the classroom and to share with parents!  It’s a number rack.  It looks something like this:

It is available for iPad, iPhone and there is a web app that can be used in the classroom.  And, it’s free!  It would be great for subitzing (seeing numbers quickly), addition or subtraction.  It would also be a great visual manipulative to use with story problems.  There is a resizeable “shade” to hide beads too. You can read more about it, access the web app, and download a free activity book here: http://catalog.mathlearningcenter.org/apps.

On to other things!  We all know about Scholastic…but they are having a SALE on their downloadable professional resources!  I think it ends today or tomorrow so be sure to check it out!

Here are three things I bought!  I had the hard copies of one of them but wanted them in a digital format.

   

I LOVE these things and so did my kiddos!  I put them in my writing center and kiddos could pull them while writing.  For example, if a kiddo was writing about school, they could choose the school file folder and use the words to help them with their writing.  I love the idea of a portable word wall for different subjects/themes.  The books above also include story starters and book links for each letter/theme/word family!

For each subject/theme there is a word list included.  I typed these up, printed them and put them inside of the folders before laminating. I’m sharing them for free via Google Docs.  Click on the pictures below to download and use with yours!

   

I’m also linking this up with The Lesson Plan Diva’s Word Wall Linky!  Go check out the great ideas being linked up!

Okay…I think that’s all!  Be looking for an announcement about a birthday sale…that’s right, I said birthday sale!  Here’s a hint…my birthday is this weekend.    I may just feel like spreading the love with a sale

Technology Tuesday!, New Feature, & Sale Reminder!

I’ve had quite a few people email and ask what programs I use to create my products so I thought I would share today!  And it just happens to be Tuesday—I’m always game for some fun alliteration.
To create my documents I use Microsoft Publisher.  I know a lot of people use Microsoft Powerpoint to create theirs.  They work pretty similarly but Publisher uses pages instead of slides.  There may be a few other differences too, but I love working with Publisher! I create and then save as a PDF and voila! {Okay it’s a little more complicated than that, but you get my drift.}
After I finish a product I then move to  creating the thumbnail images.  I usually allow Teachers Pay Teachers to find the thumbnails in my PDF and choose a few for the product listing.  But for my blog I like to have a collage of the items included.  I’m a girl who doesn’t like to buy something if I don’t know what I’m paying for so I like to provide some insight into what is actually IN the product.  For this, I have been using a program called Paint.NET {You can download it for free here.}.  About a week ago, I got Photoshop Elements so I’ve been playing with that and I love it!  Paint.NET gets the job done though..and nothing is better than FREE!  It’s basically a middle of the road graphics program—better than regular Microsoft Paint but not quite the quality of Photoshop, etc.  Here’s a little step-by-step of how I use Paint.NET to create my collage images:
1. Open the PDF and zoom out until you see one full page.
2. Open Paint.NET and open TWO new image screens.
3. “Print screen” the page of the PDF you want to include.  On my keyboard I have to click the “fn” key on the bottom left and hit the “insert [prt sc]” button on the top right at the same time.
4. Paste into one of your Paint.NET windows.  It will ask if you want to expand the image…say yes.
5. Select only the page you want to include in your product thumbnail and then copy.
6. Switch to the other open image screen in Paint.NET {the one that is still blank}.  Paste your copied page into that.
7. Repeat until you have the pages you want on your collage.
**A few tips to consider:

-If you want to layer things on top of one another, there are two different ways to do it. 
(1) Think about what you want on the bottom and start with that.  Then just layer on top of those…with your cover/title page being last {on top}.  
OR 
(2) Use the layers feature on Paint.NET.  At the top of the screen there is a “Layers” dropdown menu…you can add new layers from there.  I suggest opening the “Layers” window if you use this option.  Simply go to the “Windows” dropdown at the top and choose Layers. Then you can see all the different layers you add to your image and easily maneuver them. Also if you use the layers option, before saving you need to “Flatten” your image so that it saves correctly.  Simply go to the “Image” dropdown at the top and select “Flatten".

I’ve considered putting together a little how-to.  Would anyone be interested?
Hope this helps you!  If you have questions feel free to email!



Special thanks to Jessica at A Turn to Learn for The Lovely Blog Award!  I’ll be back with my nominations later!
Happy Spring! Don’t forget the sale ends at midnight!